Vol. xiv.-| Campbell. Cuckoos, Ejection of Foster-Parents' Chicks. 163 

 1915 J 



Cuckoo." I have little further to add beyond drawing attention 

 to the adaptation of the wings of the young Cuckoo to its fell 

 purpose. The wings, weak and pliant in most nestlings, are here 

 strong and powerful, and furnished with a hard, bony, thorn-like 

 tip which is curved forward, hke a lumper's bill-hook, to assist 

 it to engage and grip the side of the nest during the lifting process. 



North Queensland Birds. 



By D. Le Souef, C.M.Z.S., M.B.O.U. (Melbourne). 



I LEFT Melbourne for Sydney on the same day as the British 

 Association for the Advancement of Science party, and was able 

 to attend the Science meetings in that city, where niany most 

 interesting papers were read. I proceeded to Brisbane by 

 steamer, and while there stayed with Dr. Hamlyn Harris. The 

 Museum, under his control, has been very greatly improved, and 

 the group cases of both animals and birds, with painted back- 

 grounds, are very reahstic, and do the Director and his officers 

 credit. Some of the new cases, with birds and their nests and 

 eggs, are also good. The old bird-cages in the Botanical Gardens 

 have all been removed— a much-needed improvement. 



Leaving Brisbane, I had a rough trip to Townsville. We passed 

 through the beautiful Whitsunday Passage en route, and arrived 

 at daylight. During the day I was enabled to visit both Mr. 

 T. A. GuUiver and his brother, Mr. Ben. Gulhver, at Acacia Vale. 

 I was surprised to see numbers of Bee-eaters {Merops ornatus), 

 and soon noticed what attracted them. There were about twenty 

 bee-hives. As the unfortunate bees returned, laden with honey, 

 many were promptly seized by the birds, which were waiting for 

 them on the branches of a tree above. Although these birds are 

 protected, the owner of the hives occasionally had a battue, and 

 shot as niany of them as he could, but there were plenty left. 

 When a bird caught a bee it flew back to the tree and beat the 

 insect against a bough, evidently to kill it before swallowing it. 

 Probably the birds have learnt by painful experience that bees 

 possess 'stings. Indian Mynas (Acridotheres tristis) and Pied 

 Grallinas {Grallina picata) were very plentiful about the town, 

 and in the outskirts I noticed Forest Kingfishers {Halcyon madeayi) 

 and Leach Kingfishers {Dacelo leachi), the uncouth sound uttered 

 by the latter being very different from that of the Great Brown 

 Kingfisher {Dacelo gigas). In the large strawberry gardens I 

 noticed the Australian Pipit {Anthus australis), and was surprised 

 to see it there in preference to the open grass land ; probably it 

 found a good food supply in the various insect pests found among 

 the strawberries. Several Whistling-Eagles {Haliastur sphenurus) 

 and White-bellied Sea-Eagles {Haliaetus leucogaster) were noticed, 

 as well as the White-headed Sea-Eagle {Haliastur leucosternus). 

 One of the latter birds had a crab in its claws, but dropped it, 



